Irina Feldman
Office
Voter 204
Tel
(802) 443-5470
Email
ifeldman@middlebury.edu
Office Hours
Tuesdays 1-2:30 PM, Wednesdays 8:15-9:45 AM

Irina Alexandra Feldman specializes in Twentieth Century Latin American literature and culture. Her areas of research and teaching interest are Andean literature, Indigenismo and Marxism in Latin America.

Courses Taught

Course Description

Senior Thesis
A senior thesis is normally completed over two semesters. During Fall and Winter terms, or Winter and Spring terms, students will write a 35-page (article length) comparative essay, firmly situated in literary analysis. Students are responsible for identifying and arranging to work with their primary language and secondary language readers, and consulting with the program director before completing the CMLT Thesis Declaration form. (Approval required.)

Terms Taught

Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024

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Course Description

Beginning Spanish I
This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of grammar and focuses on the development of four skills in Spanish: comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing. Emphasis will be placed on active communication aimed at the development of oral and comprehension skills. This course is for students who have not previously studied Spanish. Students are expected to continue with SPAN 0102 and SPAN 0103 after successful completion of SPAN 0101. 5 hrs. lect./disc.

Terms Taught

Fall 2021

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Course Description

Intermediate Spanish II
A course for students seeking to perfect their academic writing skills in Spanish. The course is also an introduction to literary analysis and critical writing and will include reading and oral discussion of literary texts. The course will also include a thorough review of grammar at a fairly advanced level. This course may be used to fulfill the foreign languages distribution requirement. (SPAN 0201, SPAN 0210, or placement) 3 hrs. lect./disc.

Terms Taught

Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2023

Requirements

LNG

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Course Description

An Introduction to the Study of Hispanic Literature
This course in literature and advanced language is designed to introduce students to literary analysis and critical writing. The work will be based on the reading of a number of works in prose, drama, and poetry. Frequent short, critical essays will complement readings and provide students with practice in writing. (SPAN 0220 or placement) 3 hrs. lect./disc.

Terms Taught

Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022

Requirements

CMP, EUR, LIT, LNG

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Course Description

Indigenous peoples and social movements in Bolivia
Quechua and Aymara people of the Andes, and the indigenous nations from the Lowlands have been key in grassroots movements in Bolivia in the 21st century. We will study historical and present indigenous decolonial and environmental struggles, tackling issues of political representation and self-representation. We will look at indigenist literature and film, the Constitution of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, and indigenous journalism and performance. The Bolivian case will be placed in context with other social movements in the region and the Global South. 3 hrs. sem.

Terms Taught

Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

Requirements

AMR, HIS, LNG

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Course Description

Latin America in Paris/Paris in Latin America
Paris has been central in cultural exchanges with Latin America, as a model of an ideal city, a rejected cipher of coloniality, and a place of encounters. Many Latin American intellectuals and artists, such as Cesar Vallejo and Remedios Varo, lived and created in Paris. Tango became an Argentinean national symbol after having been recognized in the Parisian night scene. In this course we will study phenomena such as these to understand the dynamics of translation and exchange of people and ideas, and their profound impact on both Latin America and Paris. 3 hrs. sem.

Terms Taught

Fall 2021, Spring 2024

Requirements

AAL, AMR, LNG

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Course Description

Independent Study
The department will consider requests by qualified juniors and senior majors to engage in independent work. (Approval only)

Terms Taught

Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Spring 2025

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Course Description

Senior Honors Thesis
The department will award honors, high honors, or highest honors on the basis of a student's work in the department and performance in SPAN 0705. (Approval only)

Terms Taught

Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025

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Publications

Selected publications

Edited volumes:
Baker P, Feldman I A et al., eds. (2019) Latin American Marxisms: Past and Present. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Feldman I A and Lopez-Zapico, A M, eds. (2019) Resistiendo al Imperio: nuevas aproximaciones al antiamericanismo desde el siglo xx hasta la actualidad. Madrid: Sílex Ediciones

Book:

Rethinking Community from Peru. The Political Philosophy of Jose Maria Arguedas. (2014) Pittsburgh University Press. Pittsburgh, PA.   

Book chapters:

Feldman, I A and Pareja R (2019) “Franz Tamayo and Fausto Reinaga on the State, the Army and Revolution in Bolivia of 1952: a Dialogue between Liberal and Marxist Traditions” Latin American Marxisms: Past and Present. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 133-156.

Feldman, I A (2019) “El antiamericanismo necesario en la película Yawar Mallku (Bolivia 1969) de Jorge Sanjinés.” Resistiendo al Imperio: nuevas aproximaciones al antiimperialismo. Madrid: Sílex Ediciones, 73-90.

Articles:

Feldman, I A (2022). “Pensamiento tecnológico y prácticas chamánicas: Leer José María Arguedas con Sara Castro-Klarén” MLN 137 (2022): 1-15. https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/48434

Feldman, I A (2022). “The insurgent subject versus accumulation by dispossession in Alvaro Garcia Linera and Jorge Sanjines.” Accumulation and Subjectivity in Latin America. SUNY Press, 2022, pp. 175-194. 

Feldman, I A (2021). “‘Vida De Artistas’: La Borrachera Andina En El Ámbito Del Hampa Boliviano.” Revista De Estudios Hispánicos, vol. 55, no. 3, 2021, pp. 649–674

Feldman, I A (2021). “Ruin/Waste: Temporal and Spatial Logics of the City of La Paz in Saenz and Viscarra.” Bolivian Studies Journal, vol. 26, no. 0, 0, Dec. 2021, pp. 158–80. bsj.pitt.edu, https://doi.org/10.5195/bsj.2021.253 .

Feldman, Irina Alexandra and Tara Daly. (2020) “El legado de José María Arguedas: los límites de la ecocrítica y las contribuciones marxistas-indigenistas en el siglo XXI”. Mazzotti, José Antonio. Arguedas global: indigenismo en el nuevo milenio. Universidad César Vallejo, 2020, pp. 77-108.

Feldman I A and Daly T A. (2019) “José María Arguedas and Early 21st Century Cultural and Political Theories.” Oxford Bibliographies. Oxford: Oxford U. Press. www.oxfordbibliographies.com.

Feldman, I A (2017) “Jose Maria Arguedas’ The Fox From up Above and the Fox From Down Below. Annotated Bibliography and Research Guide.” Academic advisor. Layman and Poupard Publishing/ Gale Group: Columbia, SC, 175-230.

Feldman I A (2016) “Victor Hugo Viscarra: The Dog Life of the Human Pack—Reflections on the Limits of Community as a Promise of Emancipation.” Alternative Communities in Hispanic Literature and Culture. Eds.: Luis Castañeda and Javier González. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016. 61-86.

(2016) “Fausto Reinaga en la Unión Soviética: una revelación sobre el mesianismo revolucionario.” Revista Cronopio (Colombia) http://www.revistacronopio.com/?p=17476

(2014) “La imagología de la Revolución de Octubre en Mariátegui y Arguedas”. In Россия и Ибероамерика в глобализирующемся мире: история и современность. Saint Petersburg, Russia. September, 2014, pp.163-169. 

(2012) “Las estrategias de descolonización en José María Arguedas y Franz Fanon.” Revista de la Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana. Año XXXVIII, No 75. Lima-Boston, 1er semestre de 2012, pp. 77-94

(2012) “Moments of Revolutionary Transformation in the Novels of José María Arguedas” Modern Language Notes 127, 2012, pp.302-317.

(2011) “Heterogeneidad jurídica y violencia fundacional en Todas las sangres”.  Revista de   Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana Año XXXVI, No 72. Lima-Boston, 2do semestre de    2010, pp. 233-252.